Fish breezes past Crugnola

February 13, 2008|By Ted Hutton Staff Writer

DELRAY BEACH — With the wind whipping the flags and bending the palm trees that surround the site of the Delray Beach International Tennis Championship, it was local knowledge that helped No. 8 seed Mardy Fish win his opening-round match Tuesday.

Fish, who grew up in Vero Beach and went to Boca Raton Academy, defeated Marco Crugnola 6-1, 7-5 and moved into the round of 16 at the Delray Beach Tennis Center.

"I have played and practiced in a lot of windy conditions, having grown up around here, and I've seen worse than this," said Fish, 26, who is playing in is fifth ITC.

Crugnola, an Italian ranked No. 399, was a qualifier playing in his first ATP event.

"He is Italian so he has probably not seen too much wind like this before," Fish said.

And Fish also remembered how nervous he was when he played in his first ATP event.

"I tried to jump on him right away," said Fish, who took a 5-0 lead before Crugnola settled in.

Fish's was one of five matches completed Tuesday, as rain forced three others to be halted in the first set and three to be postponed before they could begin.

Fish was leading 6-1, 1-2 when the first storm blew through at 1:40 p.m.

Fish and Crugnola had to wait six hours before the rain stopped and the court was dried, so a match that lasted 1:03 on the court took more than seven hours to complete.

Fish, who lives in Tampa, said the ITC feels like a home tournament.

"My parents drive down and back [from Vero] almost every day. A lot of my buddies who work in Vero can come," said Fish, who has two career titles on the ATP Tour, the most recent in 2006.

Fish's best finish in the ITC was in 2003 when he made it to the semifinals. Fish plays Ivan Navarro today.

Back today

Three matches, including those of No. 1 James Blake and No. 6 Vince Spadea, were stopped at 8:42 p.m. when a second line of showers halted play for the night.

Blake was up 3-2 over Robert Kendick, and Spadea has a 3-0 lead over Denis Gremelmayr when those matches resume today.

"A lot of cards today. Very little tennis," Blake said. "You find ways to pass the time. We all get pretty good at it."